Preparations for ICASA2019 Conference start in Kigali

As part of the oganisations of the 21st edition of the conference, the organisers have called for bids to brand and design the logo and theme, which would reflect the values of the country, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the 90-90-90 goal and the end of AIDS by 2030.

Speaking in a press conference on Saturday, the State Minister of Public and Primary Healthcare in the Ministry of Health, Dr. Patrick Ndimubanzi said that the conference will discuss the policies and strategies that countries need to put in place in order to tackle HIV and STIs.

Ndimubanzi said that the global community and everyone is working in the framework of solidarity and mutual accountability where people are responsible of what’s happening in health sector for any country.

“And given that now we are in a World where people continue to go everywhere, we think that it’s very good that at some point the whole community comes together and review together policy and strategies that will address diseases,” he said.

For Rwanda, he said the conference will help people in health sector learn from strategies from other countries.

“Rwanda as scientific committee, as policy makers, we want to see strategies that our sister countries are adapting,” he added.

Society for AIDs in Africa Coordinator, Luc Armand Bodea said that they are organizing the conference to know the new trend about HIV/AIDS.

“As we are talking now, people are still victims of discrimination, more than discrimination; they are still facing some challenges in some health facilities. This is why ICASA is there to give platform to people that could not voice out to talk about challenges they are facing on a daily basis and go beyond barriers,” he said.

Bodea said that today there are countries that do not have drugs and ICASA aims at raising the level of awareness both from leadership, scientists and the community to put them together and give them platform so that they can address their issues in Africa.

ICASA is a biennial conference which alternates between Anglophone and Francophone African Countries. More than 10,000 participants are expected in ICASA2019.